Ratings for this past weekend’s Bellator 51 event were up 39 percent from the week prior, but the Sept. 24 event still drew just 158,000 viewers, ranking it 14th out of 17 events that have aired on MTV2 to date.

MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) today confirmed the ratings with an industry source.

Bellator 51, which took place at Ohio’s Canton Memorial Civic Center, faced stiff competition from UFC 135, one of the biggest MMA pay-per-view events of the year.

Bellator 51 featured the opening round of the organization’s season-five bantamweight tournament, which included stunning knockouts from Alexis Vila and Eduardo Danta. Marcos Galvao and Ed West also advanced in the tournament, which comprised the night’s MTV2-televised main card. Spike.com streamed the preliminary card.

Bellator’s three season-five events now have averaged 169,000 viewers.

Bellator ratings had been on an uptick prior to this season. Bellator’s three
monthly “Summer Series” events averaged 242,000 viewers per event. Season four,
which took place earlier this year, averaged 204,000 viewers.

UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey is probably the greatest female fighter on the planet, which is a tremendous feat. So why are we seemingly so obsessed with arguing about whether she could beat up men?